In the age of coal fired warships, the collier was a very important type of
ship. This ship was designed to transport bulky coal, the life blood of any
ship, naval or merchant, that relied upon coal to fire the boilers, to feed the
hungry engines steam. To keep up the steam pressure, huge amount of the coal
were needed. Colliers plied all of the world’s oceans to supply the coal to
the ships, as well as stocking coaling stations along the world’s trading
routes. With the advent of fuel oil in World War One the oiler appeared and
replaced the collier as the ship to feed the boilers for fuel fired ships but
those were in a minority compared to the vast bulk of warships and almost every
merchant ship, which still relied upon coal.

By the start of World War Two fuel oil had almost completely replaced coal as
fuel for warships and most merchant ships but coal was still vitally needed for
industry. We still need prodigious amounts of coal today just for the coal fired
power plants across the globe. The
Liberty
ship was designed to replace the war losses of merchant ships. Merchant ships
of all types were lost to U-Boats, air attack and other threats in their
hundreds and the
Liberty
ship could be very quickly and in mass quantities to transport armament and
supplies. Since industry still need coal to produce, colliers were still needed,
not to supply fuel for warships but to supply fuel for industrial plants. The
Liberty
ship supplied the basic design for one type of collier produced in World War
Two, the Seam
class.

Quarter Views, Profile & Plan

The twenty-four colliers of the Seam
class were named after historic, rich coal seams found in the
United States
. The basic
Liberty
ship design had to be modified to accommodate their specific mission. A
standard layout with machinery amidships and shaft tunnels running to the stern
was unacceptable because to removed too much of the coal bunkerage capacity. The
plant was moved to the stern and the quarterdeck raised, creating a profile not
too dissimilar from an oiler. However, instead of a complex array of piping on
the decks, there were a series of large cargo deck lids through which the coal
was dumped into the holds. The first of the Seam
class entered service in 1945 at the end of the war. At the end of the war the
vessels were quickly sold but they continued to steam on, owned by various
companies under various flags for the next two decades.

The SS
Pocahontas Seam was named after a rich coal seam that underlies
three counties in western
Virginia
. After the war she operated under various names; Pocahontas
Seam out of Boston, Concord
out of Boston, Hajduk out of Split
Yugoslavia (actually the former Jellicoe
Seam), and Andromeda.

Hull Detail

The Loose Cannon 1:700 Scale SS Pocahontas
SeamLoose Cannon always produces the
unusual. The company can be counted upon to produce subjects that have not been
offered before and are unlikely to be offered in the future from any other model
producer. The same is true here, so don’t waste your time in holding your
breath for a Trumpeter 1:700 scale Seam
class collier. The Pocahontas Seam is a typical Loose
Cannon release with a multimedia approach with resin parts and a full brass
photo-etch fret. The resin castings are average with some clean up required but
the photo-etch fret is comprehensive.

Smaller Resin Parts

The basic hull casting serves its purpose. It provides the actual shape and
provides a medium amount of cast on detail.The rounded, utilitarian, merchant hull didn’t have much unique
features on the hull sides so hull side detail is limited to the anchors on each
side and weeper slots in the solid deck bulkheads to allow deck water to leave
the ship’s decks through those slots. The base level of the amidship and aft
superstructure is integral to the hull castings with porthole and access door
detail. Deck detail is more plentiful but still in keeping with the no frills
approach of merchant ships. At the bow is a nice windlass with a short run to
hollow anchor hawse fittings. Right behind the windlass is a breakwater. The
breakwater, as well as the solid deck bulkheads, are too thick but can be
replaced with thin plastic panels, if required. The advantage of the thick
bulkheads is that it minimizes possibility of damage during shipment. There are
four cargo hatches forward and six hatches aft of the forward superstructure.
They are all located on a raised coaming. The two cargo decks are clear of other
features except for locator holes for the cargo derricks. The only equipment on
the quarterdeck cast integral to the hull in a stern windlass.

Smaller Resin Parts

A resin casting sheet contains additional deckhouses, platforms and fittings.
All parts will need to be removed from the sheet and gently sanded to remove
resin sheet residue. Two additional levels of superstructure are provided for
the forward superstructure and one level for the aft superstructure. Loose
Cannon identifies each resin part by letter that corresponds to the letter
used for that part in the instructions. Other parts found on the resin sheet are
davits, twin bollard plate fittings, closed chock fittings, compass platforms,
and assorted other small fittings. Three resin runners provide even more smaller
resin parts. One runner includes the funnel with exhaust cap detail, galley
exhaust, large cowled ventilator, large bow anchors, search lights and square
ventilators. A second runner has the ship’s boats, cable reel, small cowled
ventilators and small anchors. The third runner has parts the kingposts for
three different pattern cargo derricks. The only casting error seen was a
casting error in the starboard amidship outside deck bulkhead where at one
location the weep slot expanded from a narrow slot to add an indented crescent.
One other minor defect was a slight amount of damage to the angle of the forward
superstructure solid wing bulkhead. Other cleanup involves removal of a small
amount of resin casting spall from the cargo decks. Minimal cleanup is needed to
clean the resin runner parts.

Brass Photo-Etch Fret

A very inclusive brass photo-etch fret is included. A large percentage of
this detail is for the superstructure deck railings. The largest brass parts are
for the bracing frames that run between the two kingposts for each cargo
derrick. There are the parts for a multi-piece foremast. Other brass parts
include numerous circular deck access plates, anchor chain, derrick stays, jack
staff, ensign staff, platform railing, inclined ladders, vertical ladders, cargo
cranes, platform bracing, life buoys, galley stack stays, superstructure
bracing, block and tackle and even a selection of seamen. The decal sheet
provides markings for the ship as she appeared under the
US
, Yugoslav and Bulgarian flags. Each country’s flag is supplied, along with
the stack markings, stern name plate with home port and bow name plates. The
sheet throws in two Bulgarian home port stern names,
Varna
and Burgas.

Decals

Ten pages are included in the instructions. Page one is the
history and general instructions. Back-printed is page two, which has a parts
lay-down. Page three (labeled Kit 94 page 1) has the railing and inclined
ladders placements with inserts for compass platform assembly, inclined ladder
folding and crane assemblies. Back-printed to this and labeled Kit 94 page 2 is
the quarterdeck assembly in two modules. The next sheet, labeled page 3 on the
front and page 4 on the reverse have superstructure and mast assembly on the
front and cargo derricks and rigging on the reverse. Four single pages are
included, three with photographs of the ship and one with a full color profile
and plan, including variations of funnel markings as the stack color changed
with a change in ownership.

Instructions

SS Pocahontas Seam by Loose
Cannon Models in 1:700 scale, presents a unique opportunity for the modeler.
The kit comes with resin and photo-etch parts to build this Liberty Ship based
collier design in different guises, flying the
US
, Yugoslav or Bulgarian flags with different name plates and funnel markings.